NEW DELHI: The first COVID-19 positive patient to be administered plasma therapy on compassionate grounds at Max Hospital, Saket has now fully recovered and was discharged on Sunday. He had been weaned off ventilator support seven days ago, said the authorities.
The administration said that it was the family of the patient who came forward to arrange a donor for extracting plasma.The donor had recovered from the infection (confirmed by two consecutive negative reports) three weeks before her donation and again tested COVID-19 negative at the time of donation along with other standard tests to rule out infections like Hep B, C and HIV.
According to doctors, a single donor can donate 400 ml of plasma which can save two lives, as 200 ml is sufficient to treat one patient.Four more COVID-19 patients had been given plasma therapy treatment in Delhi’s Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital in the last few weeks and they have shown signs of improvement.
“The health of one of the patients in LNJP on Saturday was sinking. After plasma therapy, his health has improved, and it has also boosted our confidence and enthusiasm regarding plasma therapy,” the CM said.
Following the success of plasma therapy on COVID-19 patients, the government now looks forward to receiving more donors to cure the rest.
According to sources, the government has requested many of the Tablighi Jamaat attendees who were rescued from the Markaz mosque in Nizamuddin West and have already recovered from the virus to donate plasma.
“Many of the Markaz attendees have agreed to donate their plasma, around 200 of them have given their concern,” said an official.
A senior doctor associated with one of the designated COVID-19 hospitals in the city said that many of the patients from Markaz had completed their quarantine period and shifted to care centres.
“Those shifted to care centres have reported two consecutive negative tests. More tests will be done before taking their plasma,” the doctor noted.
How does plasma therapy work?
Convalescent Plasma Therapy is an experimental procedure adopted by professionals for the treatment of COVID-19 patients. In this treatment, plasma from a COVID-19 patient who has recovered from the disease is transfused into a coronavirus patient who is in critical condition. The treatment transfers the immunity from the healthy person to the sick.